Apparatus for cooling curved stereotype printing plates



June 7, 1938. v w. GERRARD ET'AL 2,120,176

APPARATUS FOR COOLING CURVED STEREOTYPE PRINTING PLATES Filed Jan. 30, 1937 hvmvrom Patented June 7, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE APPARATUS FOR COOLING CURVED STERE- OTYPE PRINTING PLATES William Gerrard, Timperley,

and Walter Harris,

Altrincham, England, assignors to Linotype and Machinery Limited,

London, England, a

company of Great Britain 4 Claims.

This invention relates to apparatus for cooling curved stereotype printing plates, wherein the plate to be cooled is supported by its edges above a cylindrical pipe to which water is supplied under pressure to be sprayed on to the inner surface of the plate throughout its length through perforations in the pipe.

In the use of apparatus of this kind, the quantity of water supplied to the plate is approximately uniform over the whole of its surface, but as the mass of metal is not uniform at all sections of the plate, there is a liability that variations in the cooling effected may cause distortion of the plate, affecting its fit on the printing press cylinder and the evenness of its printing surface.

In order to avoid this difiiculty the invention consists in a method of cooling a curved stereotype printing plate wherein different amounts of water are sprayed from a pipe upon different areas of the undersurface of said plate.

In apparatus devised to carry the invention into elfect, the pipe by which the water is sprayed may be divided into a plurality of separate chambers, the supply of water to or from each of which is independently controllable.

The invention will be clearly understood from the following description, given by way of example, of one form which it may assume, and this description will be more readily followed by reference to the accompanying drawing where- 1n:-

Figure 1 represents a side view, partly in section, and,

Figure 2 represents an end sectional view of a stereotype plate cooling device according to the invention.

According to the constructional form of the invention shown in the accompanying drawing, as applied to stereotype plate finishing apparatus in which, after being trimmed in a shaving arch, the plate a is passed into a cooling chamber 11, where it is supported above a central cylindrical water pipe 0, the said water pipe 0 is divided into compartments in the direction of its length by transversely located discs d, and each of these compartments is connected to a main water supply pipe e through a separate branch 1 provided with a valve 9.

The main water supply is controlled by an auto-- matically operated valve, such as a press-button valve h, and the valves g in the branch pipes f manually adjusted to produce desired variations in the quantity of cooling water applied to different parts of the plate. Each valve may have a setting scale or indicator (not shown) associated therewith, to enable an operator to set each valve to give approximately the amount of spray desired before the water supply is opened by the main valve h.

It should be understood that the invention is not limited solely to the constructional details of the form described above since various modifications thereof may be employed in accordance with any practical conditions or requirements which have to be fulfilled, without departing in any way from the scope of the invention.

Having described our invention, we declare that what we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Apparatus for cooling a curved stereotype printing plate comprising means for supporting said plate, means adapted to spray water from a plurality of points upon the undersurface of the plate and means for independently controlling the amounts of water sprayed from different points.

2. Apparatus for cooling a curved stereotype printing plate comprising means for supporting said plate above a pipe, means for supplying water to said pipe and spraying it therefrom upon the undersurface of said plate, and means for controlling the amounts of water sprayed upon different areas of said plate.

3. Apparatus for cooling a curved stereotype printing plate comprising means for supporting said plate, a pipe, below said plate so supported, divided into separate compartments, means for supplying water to said pipe and spraying it therefrom upon the undersurface of said plate, and means for independently controlling the supply of water to each of said compartments.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3, comprising a main water supply pipe, branch lines leading therefrom to the various compartments of said spraying pipe, and manually adjustable valves in said branch lines.

WILLIAM GERRARD. WALTER HARRIS. 

